


Excerpts from the Book of the One Truth

by Letterblade



Category: Umineko no Naku Koro ni | When the Seagulls Cry
Genre: Abuse Cycles, Canon-Typical Violence, Diary/Journal, Gen, Stream of Consciousness, to both characters and the fourth wall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-05
Updated: 2017-10-05
Packaged: 2019-01-09 06:56:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12271251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Letterblade/pseuds/Letterblade
Summary: ~ Excerpt Concerning the Oath of Family ~~ Excerpt Concerning the Oath of Guardianship ~~ Excerpt Concerning the Oath of EVA-Beatrice ~Prepared for the perusal of ANGE-Beatrice, Apprentice Witch of Truth, by the Agents of the Great Witch of Theatergoing, Drama, and Spectating's Noble City of Carefully Selected Books, upon this Twilight of the Golden Witch.





	Excerpts from the Book of the One Truth

**Author's Note:**

  * For [magicasen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicasen/gifts).



> I don't know if this is particularly what you expected for old Yuletide requests, but it's what came to mind when I was trawling for Umineko prompts. Hope you enjoy a random stray present.
> 
> (I didn't even realize until I was looking back at my work page that I posted this on October 5th. How appropriate...)

_~ April 19, 1996 ~_

 

It was, what, ’67, ’68? Asumu was expecting. So was Natsuhi, I suppose, but nobody knew, she probably didn’t announce the pregnancy because she feared a miscarriage. I was…those were the best years of my life. Hideyoshi’s company was growing by leaps and bounds, George was doing wonderfully at his new special kindergarten, and learning piano…

It wasn’t the family conference when we. Why were we…right, there was that time Hideyoshi and Rudolf were working on a distribution deal, and it didn’t pan out because, well, Rudolf. Hideyoshi let it stay on the back burner until everyone forgot about it because he was concerned that Rudolf’s business practices would alienate his vendors, which is to say he probably realized Rudolf was a fucking scammer but was too polite to make a big deal of it. I could have told him that. Hell. I know why he idealized our family, it always made my heart ache, and it was a treasure to have that kind of attitude around us, a treasure, but he was so willfully oblivious sometimes…

Asumu and Hideyoshi tried to make it a social event, of course. And it’s not like Rudolf and I couldn’t pretend to get along, more or less, pull each other’s ears and bitch. I never hated him like Krauss, he was just obnoxious. But then Asumu retired because of her condition, the poor dear, and Hideyoshi rolled off at some point, and then it was just me and Rudolf and we were already too drunk and…

And I hadn’t known he was a maudlin drunk. Oversharing maudlin drunk. Three months, he kept saying. Three months and I’m going to have a _kid_ , an entire baby, like an entire human life that I’m going to be dad for and doesn’t that, isn’t that, Nee-san did it scare you when you had George? Because this is scaring me to death.

I was too desperate to establish my branch’s superiority when I had George. There. I’ll say it here, even if I never said it to Rudolf, even if I’m damn well sure he knew. No, the terror didn’t set in for at _least_ six months, when I’d had time to start sleeping, when I’d had time to start wondering what kind of person he’d grow up into.

The first time he had a big tantrum with actual words. His blanket had an accident, the covered in baby poop kind of accident that blankets never really recover from, so I’d gotten him a new one, and it was the wrong blanket. The wrong blanket. He screamed for an hour. Always so particular. And I was so frustrated, I swear to god, here I was raging angry at a _toddler_ , at this tiny thing. At _my_ toddler, I’d squeezed him out, and now…

So I promised myself. Pinky swear. Never lay a finger on him or I’d bite my navel and die. He deserved better than what we got.

Rudolf and I may have pinky sworn that night. To not turn into Father. Honestly, we were so drunk, I don’t remember it clearly.

Then the son of a bitch goes and kills my George.

Fuck. Fucking traitor.

Well, I suppose he never swore to _my_ son. Just his own. And god knows Battler hated him anyway. I remember him bitching to me about that late one night, I think a year or two after he married that witch. Hah, remember, I kept my promise, I haven’t lain a finger on the kid and he still hates my guts. Maybe he just doesn’t know better, you spoil a kid and they don’t realize how hard you work for them. Maybe, I said, it’s because you’re a dick.

Maybe it’s because we’re all destined to hate each other. I wonder if George would ever have forgiven me for trying to keep him from that servant wench he had his eye on. I’ll…I’ll never know…

God, let her have him. Let him curse my name and run off and—let her have him—let her drag him to ruin—if only it could mean that he _lives_ , I’d suffer his hatred forever if it just meant that he could _breathe_ , George, my sweet George…

Hideyoshi forgave me. Hideyoshi forgave me for—using him, using them both, selfish, selfish to the end—after all that time, Hideyoshi! How could fate be so cruel? To preserve him, him alone, from his family turning to ash in the war, every one, only to take him away _then_ , after all that time, with a wife and a son and relatives he loved! Any family. He welcomed any family. Even his selfish, conniving wife, even this den of cruelty we call the Ushiromiyas—I know why he faked a Kansai accent. I was the only one in the world who knew why he faked a Kansai accent.

So nobody would guess.

So nobody would know he was from Nagasaki.

Because they evacuated the schoolchildren, after they’d bombed the medical school a week earlier, and…and he…

I’ll remember it here. I’ll remember you here. Honey. Always. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. If I hadn’t arranged that marriage, you would still be alive. And you…you tell me I’m not selfish…?

 

* * *

 

_~ July 23, 1997 ~_

 

I didn’t care if I broke my promise to _Rudolf_. That drunken pinky-swear. Oh, how I wanted to tell myself that. That I could just forget it all and turn into Father, be the mad tyrant, but I—but I still didn’t want to—

Not that I had to lay a finger on his precious little girl to make her miserable.

But it wasn’t supposed to be revenge, I was supposed to be better than that. Better than—better than _them_ —better than—

How could Kyrie have _meant_ all of that? How…what kind of subhuman…hating your siblings is one thing, hating the other branches, I mean we _all_ did that, everyone except Hideyoshi, wretched wretched family, but not even caring what happened to her own _children_? Saying Ange was just a _thing_ to prove her marriage—?

Ange deserved…

Oh hell. Stop beating the dead horse, you old hag. Ange always deserved better. You failed at that, you don’t get to complain about it now. No use pretending you’re not trash and she’s not a miserable bitch.

Is that why Ange’s such an intolerably callous little twerp? Because she was raised by that frigid bitch? They say that the first five years shape a child’s development forever, fundamentally, in ways we don’t even understand…hah, not that the rest have done her any good, old hag.

How absurd is it that I still cling to technicalities? “I won’t hit her.” “I won’t tell her what her parents did.” “I won’t let anyone assassinate her or steal her birthright.” Bullshit, Eva. Stop pretending that makes a difference. Stop pretending it _ever_ matters that you tried. You’ve seen the way she looks at you. You’ve seen how dead her eyes are. Not even Rosa ever looked that bad under Father’s thumb, and Rosa was the most wretched of us all.

Stop pretending there’s a single bit of good in you. Everything worthwhile about you died that day. As far as the world’s concerned, you destroyed it. Murderer. Child-killing murderer. Traitor. You know what they say about you, oh you know, it gets delivered to your shiny new high-tech inbox every morning. Subject: Just kill yourself. Subject: Rot in hell bitch. Subject: I hope somebody rapes you to death.

I hate the internet. God, what a piece of shit. I wish it had never been invented. I could kill Okonogi for making me get an account for business. Letting everyone scream at each other behind their masks, tear each other to pieces, post whatever groundless bit of idiocy wafted through their stupid animal brains and never have to back it up, like a bunch of goats, rip everything up, rip and chew, slander and lies, eat you alive…

It’s going to be just like that for her. Forever and ever.

Would it be better if I disinherited her? Stripped her name, let her slide off into oblivion? Let the Ushiromiya family name die with me, in agony and dishonor…what a wretched thought. But then what if somebody found out her identity—she’d be completely exposed, she wouldn’t even have the resources to protect herself…

She should decide for herself whether to keep the name. Hell. I can’t make that choice for her. I don’t know what it means to her. She might treasure the name she shares with her brother, with her murdering parents…she doesn’t know, after all. She can never know…

 

* * *

 

_~ September 19, 1998 ~_

 

Wait.

Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait.

You’re probably reading this, aren’t you?

You’ve snuck in and stolen this. Tracked down the key. Fuck. Why didn’t I realize it earlier? I’ve always felt like I was writing to someone. Hell knows, I’m not writing to the dead. Hideyoshi and George don’t need to read this shit.

I’m writing to you. Ange. God help me. God help _you_.

Maybe I’m already dead. Maybe I’m already dead, hacked up my lungs and rotten through, god it hurts, can you even imagine how much it hurts, and you’re right here reading this. Like a call that hasn’t gone through during a storm and I’m screaming into the receiver and don’t even know if you can hear me. Except I’m screaming at you to hang up.

But nothing ever ends well in this life. So you _must_ be reading this. Even though you shouldn’t, even though I kept my mouth shut and let my name be dragged through the mud for _years_ , all so you wouldn’t have to know, you still would. Because you don’t know when to leave well enough alone. Because you’re always going to make things worse for both of us. Well, I can certainly tell I raised you, girl, you take after me so wonderfully, don’t you?

The one promise I was able to keep…broken, ~~broken~~

No.

_No._

Ange-chan.

Dear little Ange-chan.

 

**It was all my fault.**

 

Do you need more proof? Can’t trust your auntie? But I’m always looking out for you. I’m always on your side. Don’t cry, little Ange-chan. Your family’s in heaven watching over you. Whatever you hear, whatever you think, it was all my fault forever and ever.

There were eight living humans in the secret VIP room. I killed Ushiromiya Natsuhi in the secret VIP room. Then there were seven living humans in the secret VIP room.

As long as there were eight living humans in the secret VIP room, the incident would not have happened.

I murdered her I killed her I started everything ~~I didn’t want~~ she looked so gray

No no no. Listen. Ange-chan. More proof? More? Why do you keep squealing for it like that? You’re such a glutton for punishment, little witch. Hahahahhahhaahha! Don’t you know witches of truth are doomed to despair, humiliation, sobbing their guts out in the piece box for all eternity, hamburger, chopped meat? There is no single truth in this world! If you seek something that wretched, you might as well bite your navel and die forever!

I killed your parents!

I looked Ushiromiya Rudolf in the eye and lifted my gun and pulled the trigger and the shot blew my little brother’s chest open and I could see his pointy broken ribs and the gray mash where his lungs had been and the blood spurting everywhere!

I looked your mother in the eye and lifted my gun and pulled the trigger and blew

her

fucking

piece

of

shit

BRAINS

OUT!!!!!

 

**HOW’S THAT, ANGE-CHAAAAN???**

 

ISN’T THAT THE TRUTH YOU SEEK, LITTLE WITCH??

Isn’t that what you always wanted to believe?? Such a horrid little girl you were! Telling me that I killed them all, over and over, until I wanted to dash your wretched tiny brains out, but it was better to let you live with your own idiocy, wasn’t it?? The worst possible thing I could do to you! All you deserved! To be raised by the woman, the witch, who murdered your parents! Ahahahahhahahahahahahaa!

C’mon, Ange-chaaaan, you can blame me! It was all my fault, after all! Blame me, believe me ~~please believe me~~ you believe your auntie don’t you?? You can believe I’m a monster, right? Hahahha! After everything I did to you?  You can believe I could murder even George and Hideyoshi?? Ahahahahahahahahhahahahhahahhahaaahahaa!! Of course I could! I’m the Witch of Rokkenjima! The Golden Witch! The darkness is mine to command!! Take my gold, take my ring, take my name, and live!!

Live to suffer. Right. To suffer. Haha, ahahhaha, to suffer, aahhahahahha, like me, ~~it’s inescapable~~

I’m the witch, after all! I’m the villain, the murderer! It was all my fault! SO BELIEVE ME AND LIVE!!


End file.
